Cornell and Technion to Invigorate Tech Startups with New NYC Campus

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced today that Cornell University, in partnership with the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, has been selected to build a new graduate engineering school on an 11-acre site at Roosevelt Island. Bloomberg aims to make New York City "the world's leading city in technological innovation."

Above: NYC Tech Campus rendering

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced today that Cornell University, in partnership with the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, has been selected to build a new graduate engineering school on an 11-acre site at Roosevelt Island. Bloomberg aims to make New York City "the world's leading city in technological innovation."

Bloomberg said the two schools were picked out of seven applications from consortiums of multiple schools as part of the city's applied sciences initiative. They were selected based on their plans for the site, economic impact, and speed of development. The new campus, which will be run as a joint venture by the two universities, is expected to eventually host 2,000 graduate students and 300 faculty members. (The selection of the Cornell-Technion group wasn't a surprise, as Stanford University dropped out of the running on Friday, meanwhile Cornell announced it had received a $350 million donation to help build the new campus.)

The new school plans to start operation off-site next year. The first phase of the development will be completed in 2017, with 300 students and 70 faculty members on the campus in 2018. Bloomberg said the project will create up to 20,000 construction jobs and up to 8,000 permanent jobs. He expects that over the next three decades, it will spawn 600 new companies, which will result in 30,000 new jobs.

Technion President Peretz Lavie said the new facility, known as the NYC Tech Campus, is "not an extension of the Technion or Cornell, but something new." It will be built around the concept of applied sciences and based on various hubs including Connecting Media, Healthier Life, and Built Environment—all of which are in turn based on computer science, electrical engineering, information sciences, economics, and business.

The future belongs not to technology for its own sake, but rather technology in the service of business and industry, explained Cornell President David J. Skorton. He discussed the sustainable campus planned for the site.

Above: Technion President Peretz Lavie, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Cornell University President David J. Skorton

Bloomberg said three other schools—New York University, Columbia University, and Carnegie Mellon University—remain in negotiations to build new high-tech facilities as part of the Applied Sciences Initiative. These facilities would be built in other locations in the city.

Bloomberg called the plan a "game-changer," and said the push for more applied sciences in the city would "prime the economic pump for generations to come." A university has the power to be "a magnet for economic innovation and growth," Bloomberg said, citing the influence of land-grant colleges such as Cornell in the 19th century. To prove the point, he called up Tumblr founder David Karp, who confirmed the difficulty of recruiting talented engineers.

Obviously, we won't know how successful this plan is for many years, but I'm always a fan of higher education, and in particular, more science and engineering students. (Full disclosure: I've long been a supporter of the Technion.) One of the best parts of the plan is a commitment to work with the public schools on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. Whether in New York, or indeed, anywhere in the country, improved technology education can only help.

Michael J. Miller's Forward Thinking Blog: forwardthinking.pcmag.com
Michael J. Miller is chief information officer at Ziff Brothers Investments, a private investment firm. From 1991 to 2005, Miller was editor-in-chief of PC Magazine, responsible for the editorial direction, quality and presentation of the world's largest computer publication.
Until late 2006, Miller was the Chief Content Officer for Ziff Davis Media, responsible for overseeing the editorial positions of Ziff Davis's magazines, websites, and events. As Editorial Director for Ziff Davis Publishing since 1997, Miller took an active role in...
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